Meet The Community

Here is an opportunity to learn more about the organizations and members of your Ocean Learning Community. The map shows the locations of the community members, while the profiles focus on specific members sharing a little about their backgrounds and interests.

TWO MINUTES OF COOL SCIENCE

Got two minutes? Click anything below and be prepared to be wowed.

Tracking skyscraper-high waves across the globe
The sea is full of “internal waves,” subsea cousins of surface waves you’ve seen on beaches. Learn more about the research on understanding these waves and their impact on the ocean

Coral Reefs, Underwater Springs and OA
Ocean acidification reduces the density of coral skeletons, making coral reefs more vulnerable to disruption and erosion, according to a new study of corals growing where submarine springs naturally lower the pH of seawater.

Sea Urchin's and Ocean Acidification
Stanford scientists have discovered that some purple sea urchins living along the coast of California and Oregon have the surprising ability to rapidly evolve in acidic ocean water -- a capacity that may come in handy as climate change increases ocean acidity.

Critically endangered whales sing like birds; new
When a University of Washington researcher listened to the audio picked up by a recording device that spent a year in the icy waters off the east coast of Greenland, she was stunned at what she heard...

Invisible Plastic Particles in Seawater Damaging
Plastic nanoparticles in seawater can have an adverse effect on sea organisms. Particles measuring about a thirty millionth of a millimetre, and therefore invisible to the naked eye, are responsible.

Beneath Arctic Ice, Life Blooms Spectacularly
Scientists have discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea ice was thought to block sunlight and limit the growth of microscopic marine plants living under the ice.

Robotic fish to monitor pollution in UK harbours
The cost of water pollution in the UK runs into millions of pounds each year, and it can cause untold damage to the environment.
But now scientists have come up with an unusual solution to monitor the problem and it comes in the shape of a robotic fish.

Where's The Octopus
Roger Hanlon, senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, studies camouflage in cephalopods--squid, cuttlefish and octopus. They are masters of optical illusion.

Into The Abyss
A new generation of explorers are seeking to plunge through nearly seven miles of seawater to the bottom of a rocky chasm in the western Pacific that is veiled in perpetual darkness. It is the ocean’s deepest spot.

Marine census marks decade of discovery
The international project involved more than 2,700 researchers from 80 nations, who spent a total of 9,000 days at sea during at least 540 expeditions. It has been described as the most comprehensive study of its kind.

Science Comes To Life for Middle School Students
How fish survive, where oil spills are, and what exactly is going on in our oceans were just some of the things some local middle schoolers got the chance to learn this week at NOAA science camp.

Around the Americas expedition
The Around the Americas Mission: "Our mission is to build awareness throughout the Americas of increasing threats to our fragile ocean environment and to mobilize North and South Americans to take action to improve the health of our oceans."

Tribe reintroduces sockeye to Lake Cle Elum
For the first time in more than 100 years, Lake Cle Elum's sandy shorelines and streams will erupt in crimson patches late this summer as sockeye salmon turn from silver to red in preparation for spawning.